Groundbreaking for Pocono Twp. sewer system held

A major infrastructure upgrade was set in motion Wednesday that will eventually provide several Monroe County municipalities with expanded sewer service.

HOWARD FRANK

A major infrastructure upgrade was set in motion Wednesday that will eventually provide several Monroe County municipalities with expanded sewer service.

Officials broke ground on the highly publicized Pocono Township sewer system, which will ultimately connect four townships to an upgraded wastewater treatment facility in Stroudsburg.

"It will meet the current and projected sewage disposal needs for Stroud Township, Stroudsburg, and portions of Pocono and Hamilton townships," Project Manager Russell Scott IV of RKR Hess said. The service in Pocono and Hamilton will be largely along the routes 611 and 715 corridors.

Those are major commercial stretches, which include large employers like Sanofi Pasteur, Great Wolf Lodge and The Crossings Premium Outlets. They each currently maintain their own on-site treatment facilities, and the project will create greater expansion opportunities for these businesses.

Wednesday's groundbreaking was for the initial phase of the project, which Scott referred to as a dry sewer project — the installation sewage line, which will not be connected until upgrades to the Stroudsburg treatment facility take place.

Phase one is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2009.

The next phase will include additional sewage lines and pump stations.

The final phase is the construction of a force main, a pressurized line that will convey the sewage to Stroudsburg where it will be treated. There will also be upgrades to the existing Stroudsburg sewer treatment plant.

Upon completion, the joint municipal wastewater treatment facility will service parts or all of the four municipalities.